Gilbert: At 71, Deborah Gurley not holding back with her thoughts on how to make Stockton better

Lori Gilbert Record Staff Writer @LoriGRecord

Saturday

Feb 9, 2019 at 1:34 PM

Deborah Gurley isn’t one to keep her opinions to herself.

A frequent speaker at a variety of public meetings — Stockton City Council, San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors, even El Concilio “because they need to see a black face,” — the 71-year-old was speechless when her name was called at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration in January.

Honored by fellow members of the Ministers and Community United, Inc., Gurley couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“I was nervous,” Gurley said.

The trip to the podium to receive a plaque of recognition was too much for her.

Friends thought she was hyperventilating. She said medical conditions — lupus and scleroderma — make climbing steps or walking quickly a problem. At any rate, once she’d returned to her chair, she passed out, but refused to be taken to a hospital.

A family member took her home and made sure she wasn’t suffering ill effects from that spell.

She was fine the next day, Gurley, 71, insists, ready to take on the world.

Or, maybe the city council, board of supervisors or San Joaquin Rapid Transit District.

Mention her name to any employee of the latter and you’ll get a chuckle and “everyone knows Deborah.”

“She’s one of my favorite riders,” said Terry Williams, director of marketing and customer engagement.

Sometimes Gurley’s comments to RTD are informal compliments or concerns delivered when she’s at the Downtown Transit Center. Sometimes they’re raised at board meetings, in which case they’re forwarded to appropriate departments for action, as are all issues brought forward from the public.

Being someone who makes frequent comments at meetings doesn’t mean Gurley’s a gadfly.

Far from it.

Gurley is smart and probably better aware of what is going on in the community than most.

She makes it her business to know.

“Mainly I’m nosey. I want to know what’s going on,” Gurley said.

So she attends meetings and often speaks during public comment periods. Sometimes she just wants to thank a governing body for participating in the MLK event, or the Ministers and Community United Inc.’s annual family picnic.

She has served on the Sierra Vista residents’ council and for 15 years or so has been on the Social Service Transportation Advisory Committee for the Council of Governments. As a bus rider, her input is invaluable.

Gurley grew up in Boggs Tract, the youngest and only girl among 12 siblings. She loved her neighborhood, she said. She would play with the boys and climb trees until her mother told her to stop, reminding her she was a girl and should act like one.

Gurley left Edison High after a couple years when she became pregnant with the first of her four boys. She spent a couple years in Tracy after marrying Paul Gurley, but moved back to Stockton, in part to be closer to her mom, whom she dearly loved.

Hard work and devotion to God were among the lessons Gurley learned from her mom, who died in 1972.

Gurley worked for Del Monte for 23 years before her illnesses, diagnosed in 1984, forced her to quit.

That was a turning point in her life.

“I was dying,” Gurley said. “I heard my doctor saying ‘she’s dying, there’s nothing much we can do’ and I was going in the pit. I raised up and said, ‘God, Jesus and Holy Spirit, it’s your will, not mine. If you spare me I’ll serve you the best I can.’ That’s when the machine (monitoring her vital signs) started picking up. They rushed me upstairs and saved me.”

She’d never been active in the community, but in the wake of her medical crisis, became an involved citizen.

She has been in Ralph Lee White’s Jan. 1 Freedom Parade for five years, this year portraying Harriet Tubman.

With three surviving sons, 45 grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren, many of them in Stockton, she worries about the life for all young people here, many of whom call her Southside Mom.

“There’s nothing for them to do,” she complains. “My mother used to say, ‘idle minds are the devil’s worship.’”

More activities, she thinks, might cut down on young people getting into trouble.

She doesn’t have an answer for the change she sees in Stockton, with more people who are ruthless and cold blooded, traits that make her want to leave her hometown.

The petite, attractive Gurley can’t leave, however, so she tries to effect change in ways big and small. She voices her opinions to leaders — from the police chief to the mayor — but also quietly sends invitations to community members about the MLK event or the summer picnic.

For eight years she invited President Barack Obama to the MLK event and told him if he couldn’t come to send his wife, or his kids or his dog.

After eight years, the White House sent her a certificate, signed by Obama, for her commitment to the MLK event.

A friend got her to join Ministers and Community 10 years ago and she’s never left.

“One of the (ways) she’s a real asset is she has a rapport with a lot of city officials and community based organizations. They have a true respect for her,” said Nathan O’Neal, part of the group and a photographer at many community events.

“She can be stubborn and strong-headed and cuss people out, but she’s a good-hearted person.”

Gurley was a young woman when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. Her recollection of that time of Civil Rights?

“My mother told me never to go back to the south because I would get beat to death the way I run my mouth,’’ Gurley said.

She wasn’t afraid then and said she’s not afraid, now. If she sees something — good or bad — she’ll speak up.

“By trying to do my best for others, I get in arguments. I do,” Gurley admits. “But I try my best to help others.”